Refrigerating apparatus.



R. H.'THOMA S. REFRIGERAT-ING APPARATUS.

' APPLICATION FILED 00w. 13,1906.

Patented Oct. 26; 1909.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

I [NVENTOR Attorney RrH. THOMAS.

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 13,1906.

. .1. y 9 0 m. 0T T 9E nu. 1 N A 1 m 2S N mm w n m a P I RQH'. THOMAS.

REI'BIGERATING APPARATUS.

4 APPLICATION FILED OUT. 13,1906. 938, 1 81 Patented Oct. 26, 1909.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

M ww I I I [NVENZOR WITNESSES llorney RICHARD H. THOMAS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS.

Specifleationof Letters Patent. v Patented Oct. 26, 1909.

Application filed. October 13, 1905. Serial No. 282,643.

To all whom it mag concern: 4

Be it known that I, RICHARD H. THOMAS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain Improvements in Refrigerating Apparatus of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to certain im rove ments in refrigerating apparatus an more especially in that class of such apparatus which is'primarily designed for employment on railway trains and the like 'for the refri oration and preservation of perishab e freight in transit and the object of my invention is to provide an apparatus of this general character of a simple and comparatively inexpensive nature by means of which the desired degree of refrigeration may be maintained in a substantially uniform and constant manner throughout one or any number of cars of a tram and whereby the delay, annoyance and expense attendant on the employment of ice as iscustomary in ordinary refrigerating cars is altogether done away with.

The invention consists in certain novel features of the construction, combination and arrangement of the several parts of the improved refrigerating apparatus whereby certain important advantages are attained and the apparatus is made simpler, less expensive and otherwise betteradapted and more convenient for use, all as. will be here:

inafter fully set forth.

The novel features of the invention will be carefully defined in the claims.

.In the accompanying drawings which serve to illustrate my invention-Figure 1 a side elevation showing portions of three cars of a railway train provided with my improved refrigerating apparatus, the side wall of the body of the central car being broken out to illustrate certain parts of the apparatus incl'osed therein; Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken lengthwise through the upper part of one of the cars provided with my improvements and illustrating the ar rangement of blast and suction ducts for eirculation of air therein; Fi 3 is a horizontal section, similar to Fig. '2,-but takenthrough the central car shown in Fig 1 and illustrating in plan the several parts of the apparatus inclosed therein; Fig. 4 is a vertical section taken lengthwise through the car shown in Fig. 2 an illustrating the means for attaining a circulation of brine or other liquid refrigerant for coolin the contents of such car; Fig. 5 is an e arged vertical by heat is abstracted from such freight, and

after circulation through oneor more of the cars, this refrigerant is conveyed to a special car of the train whereon is carri means for chilling the air or other medium so "that the heat absorbed thereby from. the freight is again abstracted in order to adapt the same medium for renewed use and circulation.

In this way the same air or other medium is repeatedly circulated through the several cars until a uniform degree 0 refrigeration has been attained. In accordance with my invention therefore, each train provided with my improved refrigerating apparatus will be made up of cars of two types, one of which types is indicated at 1, 1 on the'drawings and is designed for the reception of the perishable freight andfor the circulation of the refrigerating medium for abstraction of heat from such freight and the other of which ty es is represented at 2 on the drawings and contains the special appliances requisite for chilling the refrigerating medium and for effecting a circulation thereof to and from the cars 1, 1 which contain the freight. In carrying out my invention any desired number of the freight cars 1, 1 may ordinaril be employed in -making'up the train an for chillin and effecting the circulation of the refrirant throu these cars 1 1, a single special car 2 wil usually eit er end or in the middle of the train, as 1 will be hereinafter explained.

The freight cars 1, Imay be, as togeneral:

construction, similar to the refrigerating cars commonly in use, except that the ice receptacles will, of ourse be omltted. The

structure of these cars 1,1 is: illu t Figs. 2 and 4, and from these views it will be seen that there are provided air passages or ducts 3 and .4,.extended lengthwise along gpgosite sides of the upper part. of the car,

each-duct being provided at intervals in its bottom and inner wall, wlth orts 6, 6 and 5, 5 respectively, so that chill air may be discharged from such ports 5 and 6 of one of the ducts or passages for circulation through the freight in the car and after such circulation has been completed and as much heat as possible has been abstracted from the contained frei ht, the same air will be received throu h t e ports 5 and 6 into the other duct so t at it may be conveyed away fromthe frei ht car to the special. car there to be again 0 illed for repeated circulat on as above described. The arrangement of both ducts near the car roof insures that the freshlychilled air from one duct, as the duct 3, for example, will fall by gravitation and permeate the lower parts of thecarbody and since, by abstraction of heat from the freight, this air will become heated, it

. that it may be readily drawn off at the other- 2a will thereupon rise to the top of the car so or discharge duct 4.

Each of the cars 1, 1 of the trainwill be provided with a similar arrangement of ducts or passages 3 and 4,. and since said ducts extend throughout the full length of each car and open at each end thereof, it will be evident that should either car of the train be reversedand turned end for end, its ducts would still register with the ducts of other cars in front and behind it. A

car'1 in t e train, there being at the same v a preferred kind, being desi maintain communication be ween the ductstime a corres ondmg but reversely directed circulation a ong the opposite side of each car 1 of the train back to the special car 2. The collapsible connections 7 may be of any ed merely to of the cars independent of the motion of the train in rounding curves and the like.

In addition to the air ducts or passages 3 and4 above described, I preferably provide the several cars Land '2 with means for efiecting' a circulation of chilled brine or other" h uid refrigeration, and in Fig. 4 1 have s ownthe carxl as provided with pipe coils .8 8 at opposite ends'and con- ..nected by an upwardly directed pipe 9, ex-

' tended above the central door'in the car wall.

Asimilar or other *desirable arrangement of pipe coils may be employed at each side of each car 1, 1 in which freight is to be carried, and the ends of the coils 8 8 are carried down through. the floor at the ends of the car and are provided with valves or cocks 10, 10 bymeans of which the ends of I the coils at opposite sides of the cars may he closed to prevent entry or discharge of the liquid refrigerating medium. Flexible hose connections 11 11 may be provided between adjacent ends of the pipe coils at the ends of- 4 adjacent cars of the train as shown on the drawings, and on the special car 2 is provided,

as will be hereinafter explained, an arrangement of pipes, the ends of which correspond with and are adaptedvto receive the hose connections of the cars 1, 1. The special car'2 is also provided with means for chilling and circulating the brine or other liquid refrigerant, and in this way it will be seen that when the. trainis made up with the cars 1 and 2, the hose connections 11 11 being properly arranged and the valves 10 opened, the a1- 'p1ia nces on the special car 2 may be operated for effecting a circulation of the chilled brine along one side of each car 1 away from the specialcar and for drawing the brine in a reverse direction through the pipe coils at the opposite sides of the cars 1 1 back to thespecial car so-that it may he again chilled and again' circulated through the coils of thefreightcars. the piping on the special car 2 will be provided with cocks or valves 10 10 as shown in Fig. 1 so that the flow of brine between the special car and the freight cars 1 1 may be controlled at will, and by the employment of these cocks 10 on the cars 1 and 2 it will be evidentthat when any car is to'be cut out of the train its valves 10 and those of the adjacent cars may be closed to pre' vent loss of brine after the car has been cut out. The brine remaining thus in the coils of a'car cut out. of a train will serve to refrigerate its contents for a considerable ossible to immediately it. will also be seen The ends of I replenish its coils were the contents disf charged each time the car was cut from the train. Thespecial car 2 as, at the'op osite ends of its opposite :sides,'ducts 12 an -13 which I will term herein jblast'ducts and which are designed for the discharge ofthe chilled air to the cold air ducts or passages of the cars 1 1, the special arrangement of these blast ducts 12 and 13 at diagonally opposite corners of the car-body permitting of reversin the' arran einent of the special car in t etrain, en for end, wlthout re- 50 these versing the other freight cars 1, 1. At its two other diagonally opposite corners, the

special car 2 is also provided with suction ducts 14 and 15 through which the warmed 5 air from the cars 1 1 is adapted to be drawn into the special car so that it may be again .chilled befofie being discharged from the special car by way of the blast ducts 12 and 13. 4 g

16 represents a chill room or chamber at one en of the special car 2, and into opposite sides of which the extremities of the suction ducts 14 and 15 open for the discharge of the warmed air from the cars 1, 1

15 into said chill room. The extremity .14

of the duct 14 where said duct discharges into the chill room or chamber 16 is bent downward so as to underlie the adjacent portion of the blast duct 12 at that slde' of the car 2, as shown clearly in Figs. 1 and 5.

Inthe chill room or chamber 16 will be arranged means for chilling the air drawn from the freight cars by way of the: suction ducts 14 and 15. The means herein shown for accomplishing this result, but to which I do not desire to limit myself, will be hereinafter fully described.

From the chill room or chamber 16, the

chilled air is drawn into a fan chamber 17,

wherein is operated afan or blower 18 "of any preferred kind, said fan being, as herein shown,'mounted on a shaft 19 whereon is a pulley or band wheel 22, driven by a belt or band 23 from a line shaft 24 journaled 5 along one side of car 2 at about the central part thereof, and having a pulley or pulleys 25 (see Fig. 6) over which a belt or belts 26 are passed, the"opposite ends of said belts 26 being passed over drive pulleys 27 49 on the main shaft of a gasolene engine or other motorindicated at 28in Figs. 1 and 3'.

29 indicates a tank for the storage of a supplyof gasolene, should a gasolene engine be employed, but it is evident an electric motor may be substituted therefor if desired.

The fan chamber 17 has outlets 20 and 21 (see- Fig. 5) through which the chilled air is discharged into theblast ducts 12 and 13 forsuplply to the freight cars 1 and since ast ducts extend in opposite directions from said fan chamber 17 toward oposite ends of the s ecial car 2 and are ocatedat opposite si es of the same, it will be evident that'chilled air will be supplied from one or both of said ducts 12 and 13 to all of the cars 1, 1, which are connected with the'special car, irrespective of the location of the cars 1, 1 in frontof or behind the. special car 2 in the train. Since the suction ducts 14' and 15 are. also extended from the chill room or chamber 16 to the opposite ends of the special car 2 and are m Wat opposite sides thereof, it "will also be evi-- dent that a" complete circulation of air 'between the cars 1 and 2 is provided for so ice machine may be operated from a pulley "lar to the-pum 42 as above that the same volume of air is caused to circulate through the freight carsi repeatedly whereby it is not necessary to completelychill a fresh supply of air each time acirculation through the freight cars is effected, but merely to abstract from the air drawn into the chill room the heat which was absorbed by it fromthe freight during its previous circulation through the cars 1, 1. Themeans herein shown for chilling the air drawn into the chill room or chamber 16 by way of the suction ducts '14 and 15 comprises a sprayingdevice 31 and'a pipe coil 32- located in the chill room and adapted to be supplied by means of a pipe 33 with chilled brine from a brine tank or reservoir 34, the arrangement being such that the air in said chill room is caused to circulate through the spray produced by said spraying device 31 and also to circulate over the pipe coil 32 throu h which the chilled brine is caused to circu ate from pipe 33 before being supplied to the spraying device 31.

Withinthe brine tank 34 is a'pipe coil the ends of which are connected ,by means of pipes 35, 36 with an ice machine of any preferred kind which is indicated at 37 on the drawings and which has a pulley 38 over which 1s passed a belt. 39'whereby the (not shown) on the line'shaft 24 in a way similar to that in which the fan-18 is driven from said shaft. The ice machine 37 has communication through pipes 37 and 38 with a condenser 39, whlch is shown as being located beneath the floor of the car.

. 40 represents a tank or receptacle at the base of the chill room or chamber 16 and designed to receive the brine discharged from the, sprayin device 31 and 41 is a pipe leading from sai tank or receptacle 40 to a'pump 42 (see Figs. 1 and 6) which is driven by a band 43 from a pulley on the line shaft 24 so that the pump may be continuously operated to withdraw the brine from the receptacle 40 and to pump the same back'by way of a pipe 44 into the brine tank 34. Since the ice machine 37 is also adapted to be continuously operated from the I motor 28 thro1igh the line shaft'24 it is evi- 5 dent that the. brine in tank 34 will be maintainedat the desired low temperature for chilling the air drawn through ducts 14 and 15 into the chill room 16.

The chilled brine for circulation through the pipe coils 8, 8 of the carsl, 1 is also drawn from the brine tank 34 by way ofa pipe 46 which leads to a ump 45 also r1ven fro'mtheliife shaft 24 in a way simidescribed, and said pump 45 as two pipe connections 47, 47 leadin respectively toward'the opposite ends of t e special car 2,-as seen in ig. 1, with cocks or valves 10 10, atop osite ends of said car so that sald pipes 4 47 may I 1, 1. vThe pipe 48 1s extended lengthwise of be connected bythe hose couplings 11, 11

at one side ofthe car 2 and at the opposite side thereof is'another pipe 48,',(see Flg. 3), the ends of which have similar cocks or valves 10, \10 and are likewise designed for connection by couplings 11, 11 with the pipe coils at the sides of cars 1, 1 opposite to the connections of the ipes 47, 47 with saidcars car 2 and has connection at '49 with the brine tank so that thebrine' which has been withdrawn from said tank by pump 45 and has been forced through pi s 47, 47 to and through coils 8 8 of the ii ei t cars 1, 1 will be returned to the specia car by way of the pipe 48 andwillzbe delivered throu h .its connection 49 into the brine-tank 34. y this arrangement it will be seen that when the trainhas been made up and the connections have been properly established be.- tween theseveral air ducts and, brine pipes of the respective carsl, l and 2, the devices a on the s ial, car 2 may be operated formaintaining a continuous circulation of the air'and brme through the ducts and pipes from the above description that the im roved and at the same time, the air and brine will be rechilled after completing each full circulation so that a proper low temperature may be quicklyestablished within the cars 1, 1 and maintained in a substantially uniform and even manner during the entire run of the train, thus dispensing alto other with the delays heretofore necessary or re-icin refrigerator cars as ordinarily constructs q l and afi'ording a great economy over present methods.

From the above description of my improvements it will be obvious that the improved refrigeratin apparatus constructed and arranged accor ing to my invention is of an extremely simple and practicable nature and affords a materialfeconomy in operation-slifiicient to quicklyaofiset the expense of installation and it will also be obvious apparatus is susceptible of consi erable modification without material departure from the rinciples and spirit of the invenv t1on and or this reason I do not desire to be understood'as limiting myself to the recise form and arrangement of the severa' parts of the apparatus herein set forth in carrying.

out my invention in practice;

. Having thus descr bed my invention,- what, I claim and desire to securebylLetters Pat-- ent is a I -1.J In a refrigerating apparatus,' the comof the car and communicating with the chill room and means for drawin air in at the suction duct and forcing it rom the car at the blast duct, another car having in its/body piping adapted for the circulation of the rerlgerant and having at its ends valved connections communicating with such piping and adaptedto be con led to the pipes on the first named car, an air conduits on the last-named car adapted to be connected to the suction and blast-ducts. v v '2. A car having a chill room provided with air cooling means comprising spray pipes adapted to be traversed by a refngerant, means for cooling said refrigerant and means for forcing the same through ant and means for forcln the same through said pipes, suction and b ast ducts extended from one end of the car'and communicating with said chill room and means for drawingit from the car at the blast duct, another car air in at the suction duct and for discharging s having in its body iping adapted for the Y circulation of the re lgerant and having atv its ends valved connections communicatin with such piping and adapted to be couple to the pi es en the first-named car, and air conduits 1n the last-named car adapted to be connected to the suction and blast ducts.

3. A car having a chill roomprovided with spray pipes, a tank to receivethe liquid spraye from said pipes, a pumping device vadapted to draw liquid from said tank, -an-' other tank having connection with the pumping device to receive the liquid thererom and having connection with said spra pipes and an ice machine arranged to chi l the liquid in said last-named tank, suction and blastducts extended from one nd ofthe car and communicating with the, hill room and means for drawing air in at the suction duct and for .forcing it from the car atthe blast duet, another carhaving in its body piping adapted for the circulation of the rerigerant and having at its ends valved connamed car-adapted to be connected to thesuction and blast-ducts.

' RICHARD H. THO MAS. j .'Witnesses: Y

OHAs. C.'T1LLMAN,'

A. NYMIAN,

,nections "communicating with such piping I and adapted to be coupled to the pipes on the v first-named car, and air conduits on the last- 

